Loved Too Late
by LostArtist
Summary: [oneshot]No one ever expected it to end this way...


Just a short, sad one-shot I was inspired to write. Sorry if it has some typos or grammatical errors. I uploaded it without a beta.

Review please

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Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own any of these characters.  
Warning: You might want a tissue. 

**Loved Too Late**

"I'm sorry I have to do this," the raven haired girl whispered into the air as she stood by the clearing.

Kagome took a deep breath and looked around. The tears in her eyes made everything blurry, but she could make out the well through the trees. She had made sure to walk far enough from it that they wouldn't see her right away, but so that she was still nearby. This way she could at least be near everyone in her family, past and present.

The shikon jewel had been completed and Naraku obliterated in a long and terrible battle. It had taken the allied forces of her friends, the wolf demon tribe, Kikyo, and the taiyoukai Sesshomaru to defeat him, but in the end Naraku fell to their combined force. Kikyo had been robbed of her soul catchers in the battle and spent the last of her strength to defeat the evil demon spawn before she too returned to dust.

Kagome was now whole as was the shikon, the cursed jewel that began all the strife to begin with. Now it was Kagome's turn. The battle might have been won, but the war was not yet over; at least not for Kagome. It was upon her shoulders that the burden of the true final battle rested.

She knew what she had to do, but if the tears were anything to go by it was the hardest thing Kagome had ever been faced with. She had left her home in the future with a note as her last memory to her family.

_ "I love you all dearly,"_ the note read,_  
"but I'm afraid that my duty as guardian of the Shikon No Tama has forced me to leave.  
Don't worry, we will meet again some day, but I must remain in the past now.  
It is the only rightful place for me to reside now that the jewel is complete.  
I will miss you and hold you in my heart always.  
Ashite'ru,  
Kagome."_

She couldn't have faced them any other way; it would have been too hard. After writing the note she had stuffed her bag with ramen and candy before jumping into the well, engulfed for the last time in its comforting blue light.

Now she stood, ready to end the hellish war that raged inside the jewel and reeked havoc on all she held dear. Kagome looked across the clearing with heartbroken eyes.

"I love you," she whispered as she clung tightly to the shikon jewel.

…………………..

It was the third evening since Kagome left. Inuyasha was getting impatient as always. Exiting the hut, he swiftly leapt towards the well leaving the others to continue their conversations without him. Upon reaching the well he was confused to see the bright yellow backpack sitting next to the well aswith no Kagome in sight.

"Shit," he thought wondering if something had happened to her. Why was her bag here when she wasn't? He quickly followed her scent and was alarmed to note that it smelled freshly of tears. "Oh shit," he thought again thinking the worst, and praying to kami that nothing had happened to her.

That's when he saw her. Inuyasha skidded to a halt in shock. There was Kagome, the setting sun shining its last rays on her beautiful countenance as she stood clutching the shikon jewel to her heart. Her beauty was not what halted him though. As though sensing his presence she looked up slowly. Heartbroken brown eyes locked with gold.

"I love you," she whispered to him as she clung tightly to the shikon jewel. "I'm sorry," she said brokenly before closing her eyes. "Goodbye, Inuyasha." She cried softly before she swiftly raised her arms and the jewel above her head. A burst of pink light erupted immediately.

Kagome felt warmth surround her before everything went black. Her last thought was the knowledge that she had just saved the world.

"KAGOME!" Inuyasha screamed, running towards her as soon as she lifted her hands in the air.

Inuyasha watched in horror as the pink light erupted from the jewel before disappearing completely. Kagome's now empty hands fell to her sides again and he rushed to catch her before she toppled completely. Her lifeless body fell limply into his arms.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha yelled again, shaking her. "Kagome! What did you do you baka? Kagome…" His last utterance of her name came out as a harsh sob before he crumpled to the ground with the lifeless Kagome in his arms. He hugged her tightly as tears fell unceasingly down his face.

"No…" he whispered. "No…, no Kagome… It wasn't supposed to…to be like this…" he cried into her hair. "You can't die on me you silly baka, you're too strong for that, you can't leave me now, not after Naraku's been defeated and the jewel complete…" He rocked gently back and forth, clinging to her. "Not like this, there has to be another way to get rid of the damn jewel," he cried pleading with kami that this was just a bad dream. "No, not like this, you can't leave me...I haven't even told you how much you mean to me..." his sobs stopped his words now as he nearly choked on his own grief.

"I'm sorry, Kagome." He whispered as the sun set behind him and night fell upon Sengoku Jedai. A breeze played with their hair mixing midnight black with frosty white.

"I love you."

The whispered declaration floated through the leaves unheard, too late to matter to anyone but the red clad hanyou below.

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tear 

please review.

LostArtist


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